"United are back, United are back" Well those of you who thought that we had been 'rumbled' may have to re-think things after a totally dominant display and a real return to the peak 'Bielasball' last night - albeit against a very poor team who were low on confidence Two slight moans - first, the crowd, whislt good in terms of numbers was as quiet during the first half as I can remember (practice for the Prem?) Secondly the fact that despite it being shooting practice at the end and almost the oldkids game of attack v defence we only managed 2 goals However these two gripes are totally overshadowed by a tremendous performance, all made possible by the return of the magician , Pablo Hernandez, who was sublime and went through their back line like the proverbial knife through butter. He was a joy to watch and when he plays like this you wonder what he is doing in this Division. How we have missed him especially at home when faced with a team who pack the defence and come for a draw. The other returnee, Kemar Roofe, also proved , yet again, that he is a centre forward not a winger, and when he is allowed to play up top he gets results, this time a lovely timed header when he got between the 2 defenders and met a brilliant cross by Pablo - the finish very similar to the goal v Derby (?) He buzzed around and caused them problems all evening. Everyone played their part last night, with all 3 subs also doing well. Dallas showed what he can still offer something going forward and had one attempt just wide and one lovely run when he actually took on and beat two defenders. Pearce showed that he does still have a future- like the rest of us he must have wondered why he did not get the nod ahead of Dallas when Douglas got injured. Forshaw fitted into the system as if he was born into it and also went close with a rasping drive, he replaced the slightly subdued Saiz and kept the ball moving with little Batty-esque type passing and interceptions.
We could have had a hatful with Alisoki coming closest to adding to the total with a great run and shot that came back from the inside of the post - he was another player who was back to his best last night , with a cross in the first half nearly causing a goal as the keeper could only parry it back into the danger zone. The second goal and the one that eased all our tension off the pitch and led to total capitulation from Ipswich on it, was brilliant and well worked - a short corner came back to Pablo and his cross was superbly dummied by Phillips(?) and fell to Cooper who side footed it with his right from the edge of the box - yes League -One Liam as some call him finsihed with real skill and aplomb. That ended the game as a contest (if it ever was, since all they managed was one easily saved header in the first half and were almost gifted a goal by Ayling right at the death) and it became almost a procession of us coming forward and having pot shots and scrambles - their keeper was their man of the match (and beaten only by Pablo for THE MoM) It was a perfect response to the Blackburn defeat - a bit worrying that Berardi went off , presumably injured but with Bielsa, who knows it could have been tactical. Bielsa again used his subs wisely and excitingly making a double sub with over 30mins to go and no more cards to play. I love the way he re-acts to what is happening on the pitch - some managers seem to pre-plan the sub one striker for another on 60 mins every game or making no subs at all until time wasting at the end of a game. With other results going our way this week - Boro being held at home by Rotherham and West Brom getting hammered at home by Derby means 'we are top'the league, say we are top'the league' - these results confirming what we already knew , this League is totally competitive and any result is possible in any match. This also elevates our performance and result last night - Man City v Cardiff or whoever is top and bottom of the Prem is pretty much a nailed on home win, that is not the case in the Championship (look at Birmingham turning us over when we were top and they were bottom or next to bottom) so beating Ipswich whilst expected was in no way a foregone conclusion and we needed to be at or near our best to do it, and that is what we were, back to our best So onwards and upwards - with Forest to come Saturday evening - we will know by kick off what we need to stay top but I am confident if we can play like we did last night that no-one in this Division will beat us , so it is all about whether we play to our full potential. If Pablo plays like he did yesterday and Roofe continues to bang them in , we are going to remember this season for a long time So to sum up, last night was brilliant and the bounce back we needed, 'rumbled' I don't think so -keep the faith, the future is white ! Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/leedslist/ RIP Jimmy WAC-COE
